Sharpening a Sebenza with a Sharpmaker

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snakomatix

Joined
Jul 11, 2007
Messages
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I have read where it is recommended to use a sharpmaker to maintain your edge.

What angles should I use? 40? 30? I've heard that when a Sebenza is new, it will take awhile to bring down the angle because of the slightly convex edge.
 
40 degrees works fine. If you hit it with 30 afterwards, you will round the shoulder a bit, approximating that original convex. Of course, before you turn to the Sharpmaker, you could give it an occasional light stropping.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
40 degrees works fine. If you hit it with 30 afterwards, you will round the shoulder a bit, approximating that original convex. Of course, before you turn to the Sharpmaker, you could give it an occasional light stropping.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I do with mine. A stropping usually brings back the edge on our EDCs very nicely. When they do need a real touchup, I use the 40 deg setting and U/F rods, then finish with a few light strokes on a strop and they're good to go.
 
mine takes forever on the sharpmaker. perhaps i let it go too far before a touch up.
 
1. Take a look at the edge under magnification and see how bad it is.
2. Use a marker on the edge to see if you are sharpening it where you should.
3. I like to try the fine rods first before turning to the coarse, which may give a toothy edge that could seem less than razor sharp.

How experienced/successful are you with the Sharpmaker generally?
 
Unless your Sebenza has a full flat grind, I recommend 30 degrees. If you are using the knife "hard", then maybe 40 deg. I like mine rather keen, so I go 30. The first time you set the bevel, it may take awhile so be patient. After it is set, a touch up with the fine rods the every week or so should take less than 5 minutes (with set-up) and maintain the edge with no problem.

Oh, and gentle pressure on the fine rods works best. Gives you a razor edge and keeps you from having to replace those suckers. :rolleyes:
 
When I'm doing my other knives with the sharpmaker, I tend to have issues with some rounding of the tip.

This has caused me to sharpen my tip in a separate step with my benchstones. Is there any technique to using the sharpmaker that will eliminate or minimize rounding of the tip? I'd hate to have this happen to my Sebenzas.

Thanks everyone for replying... Your information is really helpful.
 
snakomatix said:
When I'm doing my other knives with the sharpmaker, I tend to have issues with some rounding of the tip.

This has caused me to sharpen my tip in a separate step with my benchstones. Is there any technique to using the sharpmaker that will eliminate or minimize rounding of the tip? I'd hate to have this happen to my Sebenzas.

Thanks everyone for replying... Your information is really helpful.
Click to expand...

The technique you should use is to stop your sharpening motion when the tip of the knife reaches the rod. In other words, don't let the tip of your Seb run off the rod...that's where your problem is. If you make the changes described above, you should have a perfect edge and not need to use the bench stones anymore :thumbup:.
 
I prefer to use benchstones on the tips myself. It's easier than worrying about slipping off the edges of the Sharpmaker rods. However, if you only sharpen near the tips with the flats of the Sharpmaker rods, you shouldn't have a problem with that.
 
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